Why and how to joyfully move our butts around town, without mucking the place up.

Pages with tag Electric Buses

ABB delivers OppCharge fast charger for electric hybrid buses to Bertrange, Luxembourg
ABB is a large international electrical system manufacturer, and among their extensive product line are several high quality fast charging systems. In this case they've developed a fast charger utilizing overhead wires. Unlike the electric buses fully powered by overhead lines, this unit is installed at specific points in the route. During the time the bus is stopped anyway (to give a break to the driver), the bus is fully recharged at 150 kiloWatts. The installation location is at a train station outside Luxembourg City.

Electric Bus-Maker Proterra opens manufacturing facility in Los Angeles
<p>Following yesterday's signing of climate change legislation, California Governor Jerry Brown commemorated the opening of Proterra's West Coast Manufacturing facility. Proterra is a rapidly growing manufacturer of electric transit buses. The new facility will handle production of buses for its West Coast customers, and adds to Proterra's battery manufacturing facility in Silicon Valley, and its East Coast manufacturing facility in South Carolina. </p>
<p>The Los Angeles area is already a strong customer of Proterra. Foothill Transit has 17 Proterra buses and serves 22 cities in the area. That agency plans to go 100% electric by 2030.</p>

Electric Bus-Maker Proterra sells buses to Lexington KY transit system
<p>Last Winter Lextran, the transit system for Lexington KY, bought five Proterra Catalyst all-electric buses plus one charging station. Lextran plans to buy another shortly, and hopes to buy others as they secure funding to do so. The charging station is installed at the Transit Center on High Street, near the downtown area. Most bus routes in Lexington go through this Transit Center. </p>
<p>Louisville KY, a nearby city engaged in a 100+ year long friendly rivalry with Lexington, has had Proterra buses for a couple years.</p>

PROTERRA AND LG CHEM ANNOUNCE CO-DEVELOPMENT OF NEW BATTERY CELL
<p>Like almost every other announcement of a long range electric vehicle, Proterra is announcing a partnership with LG Chem to supply batteries. Proterra's new battery pack manufacturing plant is capable of producing 500 megaWatt-hours of battery packs per year. With the new battery technology, <a href="/news/2017/09/proterra-range-record.html">Proterra just drove one of their buses for over 1000 miles on a single charge</a>, an astonishing distance for a vehicle this big. </p>

PROTERRA CATALYST® E2 MAX SETS WORLD RECORD AND DRIVES 1,101.2 MILES ON A SINGLE CHARGE
<p>STEREOTYPE: A full-size electric bus would necessarily have a short range. A vehicle that big can't possibly be practical as an electric vehicle, except for uselessly short routes for a company wishing to greenwash itself. In other words, conventional wisdom would say an electric bus can't be used for regular transit routes, who why even try.</p>
<p>Proterra just proved all those stereotypical ideas to be completely wrong. Driving a heavy-duty electric bus for 1,100 miles is an astonishing feat. It's doubly astonishing considering the previous record, 1,013 miles, was set by a light-duty passenger bus 46 times lighter than the Proterra Catalyst E3 used in this record-setting run. </p>
<p>Proterra appears to have a winning combination on their hands. Battery prices are falling rapidly, and electric buses have a significantly lower fuel cost than diesel buses. Between those two factors, electric buses could quickly become the most financially pragmatic choice for transit fleets. Falling battery prices mean Proterra should be able to rapidly drive down the cost for their electric buses. The low fuel cost will make these buses financially attractive to transit operators, and a lower up-front price will only increase that attractiveness.</p>
<p>On the heels of this announcement Proterra is claiming a nominal 400 mile range for the Catalyst E2. This is well beyond the typical driving range required for intra-city transit routes, and is closer to what's required on long-distance bus routes.</p>
<p>Also today, Proterra announced <a href="/news/2017/09/proterra-lg-chem.html">a battery partnership with LG Chem</a>. Given what LG Chem has done to enable long driving range for many electrics, this record is surely due in part to this partnership with LG Chem. </p>

PROTERRA INTRODUCES THE DUOPOWER DRIVETRAIN FOR ITS CATALYST ZERO-EMISSION BUSES AT APTA
<p>With a dual-motor drive train, Proterra is now offering an electric city bus with nearly twice the horsepower and acceleration of previous models. The new drive train will be five times more efficient than a standard diesel bus, an industry-leading 26.1 MPGe. That the bus can climb a 25 percent grade makes it attractive to the Park City Utah transit organization, who must climb a steep mountain from Salt Lake City to Park City. </p>

Proterra electric bus service in downtown Chicago
<p>The Aon Center and Prudential Plaza in downtown Chicago are being served by the first all-electric commercial transit bus fleet. The fleet shuttles employees at those locations to transit centers in downtown Chicago including the Amtrak station. That enables employees to commute to work by train, and cover the last mile in an electric bus.</p>

VAN HOOL SELECTS PROTERRA FOR ITS FIRST ALL-ELECTRIC MOTOR COACH IN THE NORTH AMERICAN MARKET
<p>Van Hool, the leading bus and coach manufacturer, has chosen Proterra to supply its battery platform for Van Hool's first all-electric motor coach. The plan is to integrate Proterra's electric drive train with Van Hool CX45E coach platform. That model is designed for long-range intercity travel, while delivering a world-class customer experience in quality and comfort. </p>
<p>Last month, <a href="/news/2017/09/proterra-range-record.html">Proterra drove one of their heavy-duty buses for over 1100 miles on a single charge</a>, blowing away the previous record. Given that Van Hool plans to integrate Proterra's drive train into Van Hool's long-range bus platform, it's next to obvious that Van Hool plans to deploy these electric buses to customers with long-distance inter-city routes.</p>

With 73-bus sale to King County, Proterra says electric buses are now mainstream
<p>King County Metro, in the Seattle area, has announced they will purchase 73 Proterra electric buses. For its part, Proterra claims this is "the moment when batter-electric buses crossed over to mainstream acceptance." The advantage an electric bus brings is fuel cost reduction. The cost for electricity-as-a-fuel is lower than the cost of diesel-as-a-fuel in equivalent vehicles. The more the vehicle is driven, the greater the gain from fuel cost savings, and since city buses obviously drive a lot there's a big opportunity to save on costs. See <a href="/ev-ownership/economics/cost-per-mile-range.html"></a></p>